The Zwangswirtschaft type of Socialism
It is, of course, true that this type of socialism preserves some of the labels and the outward appearance of capitalism. It maintains, seemingly and nominally, private ownership of the means of production, prices, wages, interest rates and profits. In fact, however, nothing counts but the government’s unrestricted autocracy. The government tells the entrepreneurs and capitalists what to produce and in what quantity and quality, at what prices to buy and from whom, at what prices to sell and to whom. It decrees at what wages and where the workers must work. Market exchange is but a sham. All the prices, wages, and interest rates are determined by the authority. They are prices, wages, and interest rates in appearance only; in fact they are merely quantity relations in the government’s orders. The government, not the consumers, directs production. The government determines, directs production. The government determines each citizen’s income, it assigns to everybody the position in which he has to work. This is socialism in the outward guise of capitalism. It is the Zwangswirtschaft of Hitler’s German Reich and the planned economy of Great Britain….”
More at the Mises site.
Comment:
Zwang means compulsion and wirtschaft is economy, so this translates as “command economy.”
Now, consider what Paul Krugman and Alan Greenspan (!) are demanding – nationalization.
Put it together: Nationalism + Socialism = National Socialism a.k.a. Nazism
Don’t be fooled by all the “nice” sounding stuff:
Health care for all…
Money for science research…..
Sounds good..but the price is saying OK to rule by Kleptocrats. and a managed/command economy run for the Kleptocrats.
This is a bribe to make you go along with fundamentally dishonest policies.
And this, from the Mises site:
“An investigation of the root causes of the ascendancy of Nazism
must show not only how domestic German conditions begot
Nazism but also why all other nations failed to protect themselves
against the havoc. Seen from the viewpoint of the British, the
Poles, or the Austrians, the chief question is not: What is wrong
with the Nazis? but: What was wrong with our own policies with
regard to the Nazi menace? Faced with the problem of tuberculosis,
doctors do not ask: ‘What is wrong with the germs? but: What is
wrong with our methods of preventing the spread of the disease?’
Life consists in adjusting oneself to actual conditions and in
taking account of things as they really are, not as one would wish
them to be. It would be more pleasant if there were neither germs
nor dangerous barbarians. But he who wants to succeed has to fix
his glance upon reality, not to indulge in wishful dreams.
it is sad that this nation which was an economic powerful nation, has been destroyed by the corrupted plutocratic Democrat and Republican Parties, along with the different corporate lobbies, with the zionist lobby, and with the capitalist philosophy that has been the main culprit, the great ideology in the essense of America. The Free Market egocentric, selfish ideology of Ayn Rand, Adam Smith, John Locke, John Stuart Mill and other bourgeoise thinkers and egoists.
We must burry that ideology as failed and wrong and give way toward Leninist, Marxist, Christian, humanist and socialist, collective ideology and doctrine.
USA was a very developed nation producing a lot of wealth, and statibility for most US citizens compared other poorer countries and to third world nations with more corrupt governments.
USA has never been a socialist nation, however the capitalist-welfare american system provided stability for most americans thru the a “trickle down capitalist welfare system”.
Unfortunately, thanks to the mafia-cartels of both capitalist parties (Democrats and Republicans)this ‘trickle down welfare capitalist system’ which has provided stability for most of americans is coming to an end ending !!
Sooner or later this ‘tricke down welfare capitalist system’ will not provide bread for all, and will morph a plutocratic corporate capitalist system that can only provide stability, food and wealth for the upper bourgeoise classes of America.
when that time comes we will see a revolutionary situation, when the proletariat take the bull by its horns and overthrows the corporate corrupted capitalist system for complete emancipation of the workign classes of this country
HERE ARE THE MAIN 3 TRAITS OF A REVOLUTIONARY SITUATION IN USA:
# 1 – When it is impossible for the rich people of this country (like Bill Gates, Jennifer Lopez, Tom Cruise, Donald Trump, Al Gore, Ross Perot, Dick Cheney, etc.) to maintain their wealth without any change; when there is an economic crisis, in one form or another, among the rich people, a crisis in the policy of the rich ruling class, leading to a fissure through which the discontent and indignation of middle and lower classes of America burst forth. For a socialist-revolution to take place, it is usually insufficient for the middle and lower classes not to want to live in their old comfortable and stable way; it is also necessary that the rich upper millionaire class should be unable to live in their old comfortable way.
# 2 – When the suffering and the needs of the middle and lower working classes of this country have grown more acute than usual
# 3 – When, as a consequence of the above causes, there is a considerable increase in the activity of the middle and working classes, who uncomplainingly allow themselves to be robbed in peace time, but, in turbulent times, are drawn both by all the circumstances of the crisis *and by the upper classes themselves* into independent historical action.
READ SOME OF MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS ON HOW TO SAVE UNITED STATES FROM SINKING LIKE THE TITANIC:
What USA needs is a gradual change toward a participative-democratic socialist system of the XXI Century, thru a Constitutional Reform by a Constitutional Assembly like many modern nations today are reforming their own political and economic systems in order to change this country from a corporate-kleptocratic plutocracy of the few into a participative-democratic social economic democracy for all americans, not for the few millionaires and billionaires.
A Political Reform would not be complete without a democratic economic reform, so that USA could move from a corporate-capitalist country toward a real democratic workers socialist economy by the workers in favor of workers who are the creators of wealth like Karl Marx said.
The wealth of this great land belongs to all US citizens and specially *workers* who are the creators of wealth, but they won’t be able to claim that wealth without a nationalization program under state and workers-control of the key elements of US industries like oil, water, communication, electricity, gold, mines, etc.
Americans also need access to subsidized or free Universities and Colleges, this country needs more public socialist education instead of private education. It would also be a great idea for US government to regulate right-wing stations like CNN and FOX and also to create a state-owned progressive TV station with progressive media people like Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, in order to spread the ideology of the US founding fathers, to teach americans democratic egalitarian values, so that thru a good education programs americans truely be free individuals and architects of of our own destiny and wealth. On the international level it is worth studying the closing of most US military bases, the incorporation of USA in the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas), and it would be a great idea to consider Jimmy Carter as peace missioner on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
Let other people you know learn about socialism! Spread the word… the more people who know the truth, the greater the force against the capitalist system! Resistance forever!
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STICK UP YOUR MIDDLE FINGER TO US IMPERIALISM AND CAPITALIST OPPRESSION!
Immanuel Wallerstein argued that “historic capitalism” as it actually developed, resulted when a segment of the old feudal ruling class managed to survive the decay of the Old Regime and recreate themselves as agrarian capitalists, and become the ruling class of a new regime. He predicted the same thing might happen again, when capitalism decayed, with a segment of the ruling class recreating themselves as state socialist apparatchiks.
The Frankfurt School Marxists had the right spin on this, I think. They saw fascism as a way for finance-capitalist elites to survive the terminal crises of capitalism by superceding the law of value with a command economy–a command economy with themselves at the helm.
The tendency for over a hundred years has been for the state to socialize an increasing share of the operating costs of big business, alleviate overproduction by buying up its surplus product, and protect it from market competition by promoting the formation of cartels. I’d say they’re pretty close to the point where the corporate capitalists can’t even keep up the pretense that it has anything to do with markets.
I agree with the last line resoundingly. I think we are well beyond any “socialism.”
The country is quite socialist already (contrary to popular belief on the right and left).
This is pure criminality using the language of “free markets” when convenient and of “social democracy” (Krugman et.. al) when convenient to give the criminal class the institutional apparatus to bring the entire economy under control.
The Cold War was never a war between free markets and centralized planning. It was always between a sophisticated managed economy with domestic restraints on government but an interventionist foreign policy (the US) and another managed economy (USSR), less sophisticated, clumsier, with fewer domestic restraints on power…..